Soap-bubble blower.



Patented Feb. 6, |900.

S. B. BL'ISS.

SOAP BUBBLE BLOWER. (Application filed Aug. 17, 1899.)

(No Model.)

INVENTUR:

WITN

uq-J

'me Nonms avm ce. wam-uma; WASHvNGTON. n. c.

Y ber, with which is connected an air-supply Niin STATES l ATENT union;

SAMUEL BLAKE BLISS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- IIALF TOCHARLES E. W'OODRUFF, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

SOAP-BUBBLE BLOWER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,892, dated February6, 1900.

Application filed August 17, 1899.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL BLAKE BLIss, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Soap Bubble Blowers, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved soap-bubbleblower adapted to be readily controlled by the operator, so that bubblescan be blown more satisfactorily than heretofore and with a greaterrange of ornamental effect.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed todescribe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciiication,Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a bubble-blower embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of the same on a largerscale. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, furtherenlarged. Figs. 4, '5, and 6 represent views of modifications.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings, ct represents an air-chamtube Z9, preferably i'iexibleand adapted to conduct air to the chamber a from the mouth of theoperator. The chamber a is or may be made of sheet metal and has abottom piece c, having a contracted bubble-outlet d at its centralportion, the bottom piece c and outlet d being of any suitable formwhich will cause the formation of a bubble below the outlet when asuitable liquid or solution and air are forced conjointly into thechamber a.

e represents a liquid-reservoir adapted to hold a solution of soap, saidreservoir having an outlet which communicates with the airchamber, sothat liquid can be forced from the reservoir into the chamber.

My invention includes a pump or device for positively forcing liquidfrom the reservoir into the air-chamber in any quantity that may bedesired by the operator, the pump enabling the supply of liquidfurnished to be graduated or varied at will. As here shown, the

pump comprises a barrel f, which is preferably cylindrical, aud a pistonor plunger f,

Serial No. 727,515. (No model.)

movable in said barrel. The upper end of the barrel opens into thereservoir e, and its lower end is provided with a valve adapted to beopened by pressure of the liquid in the barrel when the piston isdescending and to close to prevent the entrance of air into the barrelthrough the liquid-outlet when the piston is rising. Said valve ispreferably a iieXible diaphragm h, extending across the lower end of thebarrel and provided with a minute perforation 't'. The diaphragm may besecured to the barrel in any suitably way, such as by a cap j and ametal washer 7c', which hold the diaphragm against a seat or face, suchas an inwardly-projecting lip or iange l on the lower end of the barrel.The diaphragm is distended by the pressure of the liquid against it whenthe piston is descending, the orifice i being thus enlarged sufficientlyto permita small stream of liquid to be forced from the barrel.' Whenthe piston rises, the diaphragm contracts and closes the orifice 't'sufficiently to prevent the passage of air therethrough,the piston beingconstructed so that in rising it will permit liquid to pass between itand the barrel, so that the space below the piston is filled with liquidand the outer side of the diaphragm is not subjected to sufficientatmospheric pressure to open the orifice t'.

The piston is preferably conical in form and made of rubber, leather, orother flexible material, its larger end fitting the interior of thebarrel and being thin and ilexible, so that when the piston is risingsaid edge will readily yield sufficiently to permit liquid to fill thespace below the piston, the conical form of the piston causing said edgeto be held closely against the barrel when the piston is descending, sothat the piston is operative to eject the liquid below it forciblythrough the orifice t'.

The piston is attached to a rod o, which eX- tends through theliquid-reservoir e and projects from one side thereof, its projectingend having a push-piece p, by which the operator can depress the piston.A spring q, interposed between the push-piece and the reservoir c,normally raises the piston.

It will be seen that the operator by varying the extent of depression ofthe piston can IOO ' the air-chamber, and thus vary the performance ofthe device, by varying the supply of bubble-forming material. Forexample, by a very slight depression of the piston a minute quantity ofliquid, Which is less than a full drop, can be ejected into theair-chamber. I have found that bysupplying the liquid in very minutecharges, each a fractional part of a full drop, I am able to producevery striking and beautiful effects and form bubbles that havesufiicient durability to enable them to be grouped into long strings orlarge clusters. Ordinarily too much liquid is used in blowingbubbles,the bubble being Weighted at its bottom and caused io burstprematurely. There have been no means provided heretofore inbubble-blowers to permit the restriction of the supply of liquid to aquantity less than a full drop, and this capability of restricting thesupply of liquid enables my device to produce certain desirable effectswhich cannot be produced when the liquid is supplied in full drops.

I prefer to intel-pose a deiector or distributer lr between theliquid-outlet of the liquidreservoir and the bubble-outlet d of theairchamber for the purpose of distributing the liquid in the air-chamberand preventing it from being squirted through the outlet CZ. Saiddeiiector is here shown as a thin sheet of metal attached to thepump-barrel,althou gh it may be attached to the air-chamber or to anyother suitable support and maybe made of any other suitable material.

The external surface of the bottom piece c, in which the bubble-outletCZ is formed, is adapted to support a single bubble, and bubbles may beblown therefrom either singly or in a connected chain or in clusters.

To enable a nested series of bubbles to be formed, one or more beingcontained in another, I provide a series of shoulders s, surrounding thebubble-outlet, said shoulders being preferably concentric With eachother and with the outlet and connected by intervening bubble-guidingsurfaces so formed that the operator While blowing a bubble can bysuitably manipulating the device cause the neck of the first bubble toexpand land to move outwardly at its line of juncture Wi th its supportfrom one shoulder s to another, thus transferring the bubble fromshoulder to shoulder, so that another bubble or as many bubbles as thereare inclosed shoulders may be blown wit-hin it, each bubble dependingfrom one of the shoulders, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. l.In this Way it is possible to produce a nest of bubbles containing asmany bubbles as there are shoulders, the effect produced by this nestbeing very beautiful.

The form of the shoulders s and of the intervenin g surfaces may bevariously modified. In Fig. 2 I show the shoulders asdownwardly-projecting beads separated by intervening faces. InFigs. 5and 6 modifications are shown in which there are slight variations ofform, but all adapted to produce the saine result. A shoulder s',similar to the shoulders s, is here shown as formed by the margin of thebottom piece c. When it is not desired to use the device for blowingnested bubbles, the series of shoulders s may be separated from thebottom piece c to prevent the transference of bubbles from said bottompiece to the shoulders s. To this end the shoulders s may be formed on acollar S2, which is movable on the air chamber a. When said collar ismoved upwardly or away from the bottom piece c, no transfer of bubblesfrom the bottom piece to the shoulders s can take place; but thismovable collar is not absolutely necessary.

I do not limit myself to the details of construction and arrangement ofparts here shown, as the same may be variously modified Withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention. Y

I claiml. A bubble-blower comprising an air-cham ber having abubble-outlet and an air-supply tube, a liquid reservoir having anoutlet communicating with the air-chamber, and means for positivelyforcing liquid through said outlet into the air-chamber said meanshaving provisions for forcing minute charges of .liquid into thechamber, substantially as described.

2. A bubble-blower comprising an air-chamber having a bubble-outlet andan air-supply tube, a liquid-reservoir having a pump-barrel the outletof which communicates with the air-chamber, and a liquid-forcing pistonmovable in said barrel and having a rod or operating device projectingoutside of the reservoir, said piston and rod enabling minute charges ofliquid to be supplied to the airchamber, substantially as described.

3. A bubble-blower comprising an air-chamber having a bubble-outlet andan air-supply tube, and a liquid-reservoir having a forcepumpdischarging into the air-chamber, said pump having provisions forforcing minute charges of liquid into the chamber, substantially asdescribed.

4. A bubble-blower comprising an air-chamber having a bubble-outlet andan air-supply tube, a liquid-reservoir having a pump-barrel extendingfrom the reservoir to the chamber and having a iiexible diaphragm whichis perforated to form an outlet adapted to be opened by pressure Withinthe barrel, to permit the escape of liquid, said outlet beingautomatically closed by the contraction of the diaphragm after theremoval of such pressure to prevent the entrance of air into the barrel,and a piston movable in said barrel and adapted to force liquid throughsaid outlet.

5. A bubble-blower com prising an air-chamber having a bubble-outlet andan air-supply tube, a liquid-reservoir having an outlet communicatingWith the air-chamber, means for IOO IIO

forcing liquid through said outlet into the air-chamber, and aliquid-defieotor interposed between the liquid-outlet of the reservoirand the bubble-outlet of the air-ehamber,whereby the liquid isdistributed in the air-chamber.

6. A bubble-blower having a bubble-emitting outlet, an inner bubblesupport surrounding said outlet, an outer bubble-support surroundingtheinner support, and means for guiding a bubble from the inner to theouter support, whereby a bubble may be formed on the inner support andthen transferred to the outer support, leaving the inner support freefor the formation of an inner bubble thereon.

7. A bubble-blower having a bubble-emitting outlet and a series ofshoulders surrounding said outlet,said shoulders being connected byintermediate bubble guiding surfaces, whereby a nested series of bubblesmay be transference of bubbles from the outlet to theV collar.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

SAMUEL BLAKE BLISS. Witnesses:

C. F. BROWN, E. BATCHELDER.

